Vincent Gerard

This is my hubby. Also known as Vinny, Dowey, Dowebally, and (as of last night) Pickle Juice. (You may learn that I have an affinity for nicknames, comes from my daddy!) Unbelievably, the hubs and I have been married for 9 years! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college and my friend introduced me to this hunky senior with a hot red car! Vince is working hard to support our family and traveling here and there. Vince is a WONDERFUL father and his girls (all of us) are the most important things to him!

Barclay Kathryn

What to say? I'm Barclay, usually known as Barclay (not much you can do with Barclay). I was an elementary teacher for fours years until I had Bella. Now I am doing the job I have wanted to do ALL of my life, being a mom. I love these two girls more than I can possibly express and it is my joy and privilege to be able to spend each day with them. I recently entered the blog frontier, and although my blog followers will probably be able to be counted on one hand, I thought it would be exciting to be a part of something so neat. I love that there are many other moms out there facing the same joys, hardships, questions, surprises, and challenges that I am. I also hope to be a sort of medium to spread awareness for others that need prayers, help, or just someone to walk through life with!

Isabella Kathryn

Usually referred to as Bella. As well as Bells, Bellie, Belly Boo, Bellsie Bubs, Bubs, Bubba, Bells and Whistles.... Bella is our first born daughter. She is 6. Bella enjoys school, reading, riding her training-wheel free bike, she could color and write for hours, she loves singing to the Momma Mia soundtrack, anything princess or pink, having bows in her hair, playing dress up, and her little sisters! God blessed us with Bella a month early but she was perfectly healthy. In six years she has become such a bright, outgoing, sensitive, and fearless little girl. Bella really is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is eager to please. If she hurts or disappoints someone it literally crushes her to tears. This last year she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and we could not be more proud!! Love this sweet, blonde, blue eyed beauty!

Bryanna Karina

Usually known as Brynn. As well as Brynnie, Miley, Miley Moo, Geegs, Geegers, Brynnie Boo, and many more. Ten days before Bella turned 2 years old we were blessed with another beautiful, healthy girl by planned c-section. This time I was able to see my baby right after birth, watch her get weighed, bathed, etc. I couldn't wait for Bella to meet her. Brynn is now 4 and keeps me laughing all day long. Brynn, since she was about 2 months old has been the smiliest baby I have ever met. All you need to do is look at her and she will flash you a world class smile. Brynn is smiley, more shy and reserved about things than her big sis, can be quite the clown when she feels safe or gets in a silly mood, amazingly brilliant, she's been speaking full sentences since she was 19 months and continues to amaze us with what comes out of her mouth. She loves doing whatever her big sister is doing, dressing up, looking at books, her blankie, being held, twirling in her dresses, singing, and dancing whenever she hears music! Brynn is my compassionate baby, she hates to see people hurting. We just love this sweet, shy, snuggly, smiling little girl!

Brooklyn Blythe

Also known as Brookie, Brookie Cookie, Cookie Lu, Lulu B just to name a few. Sweet, sweet Brooklyn is our family's latest addition! We welcomed Brookie into our family on August 23rd 2010 at 12:23pm by planned c-section. I was nervous she would be a bit high maintenance since she came out screaming bloody murder and continued to wail anytime anyone touched her- get her footprints, take her temperature, etc. Amazingly, she would instantly stop the moment the Hubs touched her or began talking to her. And since her birthday, we have barely heard a peep out of her..... And fast forward 18 months, she definitely makes plenty of peeps now! :) We are full blown in the the terrible twos (which IMO last from 18-36 months) I believe. To make matters worse she's also cutting her 4 molars. She definitely knows what she wants but can't quite articulate it, so gets frustrated. Eating is also a hit or miss these days which is very foreign to me. Mixed with the crabby days though is the funniest personality ever. She is a riot! She LOVES chasing after her big sisters or having them chase and imitate her. She also has this adorable chubby face and will peek out of the corner of her eyes and just melt your heart! She is definitely shy at first but if you can get through to her she will keep you in stitches with her antics. We love you little BB and couldn't ask for a sweeter addition to our family!

Currently visiting...

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

So last night I went to bed at 11. Was woken up at 12:30 by Brooklyn needing to use the bathroom. Then Blakely woke for her nightly feeding at 2. And then for some reason woke at 3, 4, and 5 before falling asleep until 8:30.

I awoke to the hub's alarm at 6:30. At 7 I asked him to get the girls up for me (I usually get them up and he graciously lets me go back to bed while he takes them to the bus stop, however today he had to leave early for a meeting so I had bus stop duty). Got the girls to the bus stop at 7:25. Came home, ate, got the two littles dressed and left at 8:45 to get to our MOPS church in Gurnee to decorate the tables. Decorated the tables with wonderful helpers, nursed Blakely who had patiently been waiting until now. Afterwards, Brooklyn smashes her finger pretty bad in a door and then proceeds to get trapped on the elevator and we couldn't get the door open to get her. So she went down and came back up terrified of course. Left there to pick Brynn up from school at 10:35. Then headed back to the Gurnee area, quickly grabbing lunch for myself before getting to the movie theater (we're part of a movie club that shows kid movies on Wed. starting at 11). Gave the girls lunches I had packed while we watched the movie. After the movie I ran to Walmart for a couple of things. Then I headed to Party City to pick up balloons at 1. Then headed back to the MOPS church to add the balloons to our tables. Stopped to nurse Blakely while we were there too. Then I ran home to meet Bella at the bus at 2:30. Which I was then going to run to the post office to get the girls their passports (headed to Cozumel in January!) but found out both the hubs and I need to be present. So I took our hour break to have the girls get their school and Awana homework done. Then we left at 3:30 to hit our town's last summer Farmer's Market. Then we left there a little before 5. I drove until Brooklyn fell asleep to get a little snooze since it was going to be a late night. Arrived at McDonald's drive thru a little after 5. Got the girls' their dinner. Nursed Blakely in the parking lot while the girls ate. Got to Awanas at 5:40, woke Brooklyn and had her eat her food. Left there at 6. Grabbed myself dinner and went home. Sat for 30 minutes and ate. Then ran another two errands for tomorrow. Meanwhile every stint we are in the car Miss Blakely is SCREAMING. She was just DONE with the car. Then at 7:45 headed to pick up the girls at Awana. 8:15 and I am again nursing Blakely in the parking lot. Got her in her jammies and headed home. Finally got everyone jammied and in to bed by 9:15 (with the hub's help who was finally home after having several late work nights including tonight).

Just now finally really sat down.

And just realized my baby turned 3 months today.

Sigh.

I'm so sorry Blakely! All I do is truck you around all day picking up or dropping off or running errands, squeezing in your feedings and naps when we can. I love you so so much. I am so thankful you just go with the flow!! You really are the best baby.

Monday, September 16, 2013

We asked Bryce and Brooklyn to take a picture together (both of their big sisters were in school here last year together) and this was as close as they would get, ha.

Got them a little closer. :)

I think putting her name up excited her the most, she was always wanting to do her sisters' names.

She clammed up a little bit around her teachers but wanted nothing to do with me sticking around!

Her teachers said she did great.

I guess she went to the washroom once and asked for help (I always do at home). They told her they would be there but to try first on her own. She insisted on using a stool like we use at home though, ha. She did fine on her own but her teacher could hear her talking to herself with each step. :) Now we've practiced going on our own at home and not using a stool or potty seat. Getting too big!

Her friend Abby.

On the second day of school they celebrated Brookie's birthday. She has seriously had the longest birthday celebration ever. (started at the beginning of August and still going) Since it was recent they celebrated now, versus her half bday. She LOVES her birthday. She still thanks God for her birthday every night when she prays. :)

She brought in chocolate ice cream for snack and it was a big hit and perfect for the hot day.

She also gave suckers to each of her friends. This also delighted her so!

Friday, September 13, 2013

(I think Bella has reached the age that she's too big for cutesy outfits :( )

but they did not come in time. So Brynn is wearing big sister's version of the dress she wore two years ago, oh well!

Two down, one to go!

Brooklyn wanted to be on the bus with sissies SO bad!

Love this pic. Sweet, sweet face in a crowd of kids.

Not the only one sad to leave Brynn at school!

Brynn did great heading off to school. She was so excited to take the bus with her big sister. Bella took to her role perfectly and has been very good at helping her little sister. They sit together on the bus and each day Bella gets her to her class. Brynn knows her teacher from Bella having her and she's in class and at the table with one of her besties, so it has been a very smooth transition. However the other day after having a bad attitude most of the day, I sent her to her room to calm down. I went up stairs 5 minutes later to check on her and she was out cold. So I think the everyday, all morning has definitely caught up with her. I also can't believe how SMART she is. I was going through some of the papers her teacher sent home and she already knows all the words from her first two sight word lists and she can count all the way to 110 (probably higher but that's as far as the chart went). Crazy what she picks up and retains from her big sis! Praying things continue to go well and that she always loves it as much as she does right now!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Before I eventually finish my back to school posts I wanted to do an update on our house hunt!!

In case you are not aware, we have been looking for a new home for over a year We are not looking to move far, but we have out grown our current home and are just looking for a little bit more space. Back in December we got stuck in a short sale for 5 months. In that 5 months, homes in the area we are looking made a crazy jump in price (anywhere from $20,000-$40,000!) and the interest rates went up. In light of those things it was looking more and more like a new house wasn't going to happen. With our high taxes on top of rising prices it just looked like we had missed our window. Blakely was also arriving soon so we just put house looking on hold for awhile. Right before we had Blakely we had put an offer on a house we had seen a while back but had gone contingent. The deal had fallen through and it was back on the market, so we took a second look and I told the hubs I really liked it. It was an absolute long shot, in fact our realtor and the hubs didn't really know why we were bothering. But I really liked the house and it was one of the few houses in our area that was still asking a reasonable price and in nice condition. However, where we were looking most houses got multiple offers and because of that were going well over asking. With this home they were offering a warranty and a 3% closing credit, which we waived to make our offer look better. But our offer was $900 under asking because we just couldn't afford to go any higher. So basically a long shot. But we were putting house hunting on hold and there wasn't anything else out there so why not.

A couple days later we were told another offer was accepted, which we fully expected. So moving on. A couple weeks later we got a call that the deal had fallen through and did we want to resubmit our offer? Well there was nothing else on the market and we were busy having a newborn so we said sure. Our realtor asked us if maybe we wanted to up our offer a bit to look better? I of course wanted to but the hubs stuck to his guns and said we were staying where we were at. So we resubmitted and again another offer was accepted.

So off to family camp we went, moving on again. While we were away we received a text that yet again the offer fell apart. So again our realtor asked if we wanted to resubmit. Again, also, asking if we wanted to increase our offer. Once again the hubs said no and he said this time we wanted to ask for that 3% closing bonus. So not only were we under asking, we also added $ they would have to owe us. So as the offer went in for a 3rd time I thought there was no way. Well after a little while we got word that our offer was ACCEPTED!! Third time's the charm! Such a God thing!

The timing is not ideal since the girls have started school where we currently live but God has a plan. We have the option to keep the girls where they are or we can move them to their new school. I don't mind moving Brynn. We're hoping she can just move in to the afternoon class with several friends she already knows. But Bella has been at Prairieview since she was 3. The staff knows our family and we're SO sad to leave them. Bella also ended up with her bestie again (they've been together since they were 3) as well as two girl friends she was close to in kindergarten. Another issue is she absolutely LOVES her teacher. However if we leave her there we'd have to provide transportation. So just a lot of decisions to make. We'll see. It all just hasn't really hit me. Like the fact that we close in 3 weeks and I haven't packed a thing! Yikes.

We haven't really officially told the girls its a go because Bella does NOT want to change schools. But the other night I was driving with the girls and Bella was telling that a boy on her bus was talking about how sad he was that he was moving and she was comforting him. Telling him it would be ok and that he'd make new friends, etc. Afterwards she had this look on her face so I asked what she was thinking and she burst into tears. Agh break my heart. I told her we didn't know what we were going to do and that if we did move her she would make many new friends but not to worry about it until we decided. So its a sensitive situation so we'll see how it plays out. I'm leaning towards letting her make the decision. So we'll see.

So sorry that was a lot of rambling but that is where we are at! We got word today that our mortgage was approved. We had the inspection last week. So we're moving along!! So now to get our current home rented and packed up!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Blakely I am so sorry. You life is being documented terribly. Without our nice camera all of our pictures are being taken by my phone. I wasn't too sad about it, but now that milestones like the 2 month mark and first days of school have passed or the chance for fall pics coming up, I'm really sad my only memories of them are fuzzy phone pics. :( I really want a nice camera again.

However, we probably FINALLY have a house!!

I'll try to update more about that but for now we have a month to pack up and get in the new place!

Also the hub's car quit working yesterday and needs about $1500.00 worth of work. :(

So between those two things money is tight, so I don't see a nice camera in our future any time soon.

I of course have a ton to go back and catch up on but I wanted to join in all the back to school fun!

Thankfully, each girl had her own first day to shine!

All summer Bella has been saying she doesn't want to go to second grade, she wants to go back to first grade (she just LOVED her teacher).

But thankfully after MANY prayers Bella once again ended up with her bestie (they've been together since they were 3) and also two of her friends that she/we loved from Kindergarten! She also got a teacher that she just loves again, so she couldn't be happier about being back in school. Brynn and she don't like to be woken up in the morning but they do love school, which I'm so thankful for. The other weekend they asked me why they can't go to school everyday. Ha! Hope they remember that when they're 16!

Here are Bella's first day pics over the years starting in 2009:

This Year!!
She's seriously getting too big!

Her new teacher and bestie.

These cuties reunited!

Afterwards we celebrated by hitting the pool!

(celebrating first day and last day of summer for Brynn)

We also enjoyed the farmer's market that night after a dinner with our besties.

About Me

I used to be an elementary teacher but am now a stay-at-home mommy with three sweet baby girls. Bella is 6, Brynn is 4, and Brooklyn is 1. We also have a sweet Golden Retriever named Beckham. I have been married to the love of my life, Vincent, for almost 12 years. Although I hate the cold I am a Chicago girl through and through. And thats about all I've got!